Field-Induced Nonlinear Particle Chaining

在外加电场中的介电粒子倾向于形成平行于电场排列的链条。这项研究将测量链状介电粒子之间的作用力和链的有效偶极矩作为粒子类型、粒子大小和链长的函数。这些测量将在改进的介电泳悬浮设备中进行。发展了一种粒子间作用力的理论，特别考虑了相邻粒子之间的小间隙中高场产生的非线性电效应。介电力和粒子链在电流变学中对于控制粒子悬浮液的性质和在墨粉粒子的静电印刷中起着至关重要的作用。目前的研究应该有助于这些过程的工程设计，到目前为止，这些过程在很大程度上仍然基于经验主义。

Dielectric particles in an applied electric field tend to form chains aligned parallel to the field. This research will measure the force between chained dielectric particles and the effective dipole moment of the chain as functions of the particle type, particle size, and chain length. These measurements will be made in an improved dielectrophoretic levitation apparatus. A theory for the interparticle force will be developed paying special attention to non- linear electrical effects arising from the high field in the small gap between adjacent particles. The dielectric force and particle chaining play essential roles in electrorheology for the control of properties of particle suspensions and in xerographic printing with toner particles. The current research should aid the engineering of these processes which until now have remained largely based on empiricism.